What do Marriage, Families, Sales and Account Management have in common?

Exceptional Sales Performance Monday Motivational Minute

What do Marriage, Families, Sales and Account Management have in common?

January 21st 2013

By Gregory Ferrett
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Welcome to Monday


Studies at Michigan State University show there is a happiness boost that occurs when couples marry. This boost lasts about two years, after which people revert to their former levels of happiness or unhappiness.

DuelingCouple

Infatuation and passion have an even shorter lifespan, and must evolve into companionate love, composed of deep affection, connection and liking according to Sonja Lyubomirsky, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside.

In her recent book happily married couples average five positive verbal and emotional expressions towards one another for every negative expression. For a very unhappy couple this ratio is less than one to one.

This got me thinking about relationships in general, and in particular with our work colleagues and customers.

Ken Blanchard, in his book 'The One Minute Manager' talks about the importance of the one minute praising.  He suggests you praise people for what they do right immediately and very specifically. Include in the praising message how good you feel about what they did and how it helps you, the organisation or the family. Pause a moment to let then 'feel' how good it is, encourage them to do the same and provide positive support for their role in the organisation or family.

Blanchard goes on to also introduce the concept of the one minute reprimand. Once again, be specific and deliver it immediately following up with a reminder of their value to you and the organisation or family. The key to the reprimand is realising when it is over.

What does this have to do with sales or account management?

In sales I find it easy to be positive when chasing a new opportunity. I can give out positive verbal expressions regularly and overlook bad customer behaviour just to win a deal. When overdone this behaviour is seen by customers as sleazy sales behaviour often characterised by images of used car sales people or real estate agents.

This is dangerous behaviour if you are trying to win long term business. Just like a marriage, you can become infatuated with winning a new customer and miss the signals which may lead to trouble.

The pain of losing a long term customer, a spouse or relationship in a family can all be linked to similar behaviour patterns. Sonja's research tells us we need to be catching our customers doing things right;

"Emily, I really appreciated the quick payment on the account. It has helped us keep our contractors happy and deliver a better service. Working with people like you is a real pleasure."

"George, having the samples arrive a day earlier allowed us to get the tests slotted into this week's batch rather than next week. It made me feel much more comfortable knowing the results before commencing on the next phase."

Catching people doing the right thing is simple. The hard thing is taking the time to say something about it. As we get comfortable in the relationship we have with our customers it is easier to look for things going wrong and criticise. Before you know it the ratio of positive to negative expressions drops to less than one and you get that phone call saying "We have decided to change suppliers".

Yes, marriage, family and selling are all about relationships - and they all need the same attention to maintain the happiness everyone felt when they entered into the relationship.

Today's question and Actions

Examine your most important customer relationships and ask yourself "Am I happy with the relationship, or is it creating stress?". Here are three things you can do to help bring the relationship with the account back into sync.

1. Look for things your customer is doing well and start praising the individuals who are doing it. Don't make things up and put on a sleazy salespersons coat. Make it a genuine praising in the way Blanchard puts it.
2. Keep the negative stuff out of your everyday conversation. It is easy to criticise, however, in an important relationship, going over old ground can be devastating. If something needs to be addressed do so immediately and move on.
3. Take time to enjoy the relationship you have with your customer. This does not mean you have to be friends, just do things you enjoy together once in awhile.

You will be astounded at how many new opportunities will come your way when you have a customer who is 'in love' with you. Of course you will be enjoying do things for them just as much.

Have a great week!

Exceptional Sales Performance

P.S. More inspiration on our BLOG here.

Reprint permission
Permission is granted to reprint this article with the condition it is republished unedited and in full with full attribution to the author and the authors bio. Please provide a link to the reprint to the following email; greg.ferrett@exceptionalsales.com.au

Selling to the Seven Emotional Buying Styles Discover how to link your product to buyers emotion. In this very practical book you will learn everyday tools to take advantage of proven scientific evidence linking emotion to every decision. You will meet; the Hustler the Artist the Normal the Engineer the Politician the Mover, and the Double Checker This is one book you will refer to time and again to help you plan sales calls and to close sales.

Buy your Kindle or Hard Copy version here

How do laughing, kissing and closing a sale differ?

Exceptional Sales Performance Monday Motivational Minute

How do laughing, kissing and closing a sale differ?

January 7th 2013
 

By Gregory Ferrett

Subscribe to this blog by entering your mail on the right .....;

Welcome to Monday

While watching the film “She’s the Man” one line stood out to me. Viola, dressed as a man, is coaching Duke on how to get a woman to like him. She says “If you can get a girl to laugh she will fall in love with you...?”

Laughing breaks down barriers

This made me think ... what is it about laughing which changes a persons mind? And how relevant is this to influence in other life activities?

Laughter is one of the few activities which can change the chemistry of the whole body. A hearty well developed laugh provides input into three areas of the body;

Energy

Laughter is the simplest and best way to quickly recharge energy reserves. (You can read more about the energy in the article ‘What can you do when you hit the wall and nothing seems to be working’)

Chemical

When you laugh, you generate a wealth of healing biochemical compounds. Deepak Chopra says “...your body can produce any drug you can buy from your chemist or drug store...” and one short burst of laughter can produce the life saving chemicals which drug companies sell for thousands of dollars. When you laugh your cortisol and catecholamine levels reduce and the left and right side of your brain come back into electrical balance.

Physical

Laughter helps circulate lymph fluid and helps your organs by removing waste products, increasing your body’s ability to fight infection. Laughter also increases oxygen supply allowing your body to generate more energy. Higher levels of oxygen produce a natural ‘high’. Laughter, especially outrageous laughter, can give your body a real workout.

What about kissing and closing a sale?

There are a few high stress activities in life. Two of the items right up there are making a decision to buy something (especially something expensive) and closing in on that first kiss with someone you really like. 

As it turns out laughter affects the brain and body in much the same way to reduce stress for these activities.

One side of the brain is saying “You can do better than this”; or “Lets look at more options before we make a decision”.

The other side of the brain is saying “I like the way the colour will look in the living room”, or “I wish he would just kiss me”.

As the brain considers the statements each side of the brain produces a small electrical charge, one side (+) positive and the other (-) negative, not unlike a battle in the brain, creating stress.  By helping a person laugh this barrier is reduced by discharging the two sides.
 
Viola was right. If Duke could get the girl to laugh her barriers came down. Even if these barriers were raised by months of bad behaviour, a single session of laughter will bring all the barriers down.

The same thing happens in a sale. If a salesperson or business owner can reduce the stress being experienced by the buyer using laughter all the barriers are gone. It is then just a matter of handling the real objections to getting a decision finalised.

Today’s question and action

Laughter is a serious matter. Here are some things you can do to help.

• Be prepared with a series of really funny stories. Like I say to my mother “Never let the facts get in the way of a good yarn”.  Practice them and use them appropriately – you will find people start to respond to you better as you develop your library of humorous stories.
• Join a laughter club. A simple Google search will bring up your local club. Even a few meetings can change your life.
• Examine the blockages some of your sales. You may be surprised to see there is a minor point creating tension or stress.  Make it into a point of laughter, with the joke being on yourself, and the watch the process move ahead.

The more you allow fun into your life you will be surprised at how more people will listen and be influenced by you.

Have a great week!

Exceptional Sales Performance

P.S. More inspiration on our BLOG here.

Reprint permission
Permission is granted to reprint this article with the condition it is republished unedited and in full with full attribution to the author and the authors bio. Please provide a link to the reprint to the following email; greg.ferrett@exceptionalsales.com.au

Selling to the Seven Emotional Buying Styles Discover how to link your product to buyers emotion. In this very practical book you will learn everyday tools to take advantage of proven scientific evidence linking emotion to every decision. You will meet; the Hustler the Artist the Normal the Engineer the Politician the Mover, and the Double Checker This is one book you will refer to time and again to help you plan sales calls and to close sales.

Buy your Kindle or Hard Copy version here

Why do people really like you and do business with you?

Exceptional Sales Performance Monday Motivational Minute

Why do people really like you and do business with you?

November 26th 2012

By Gregory Ferrett


Current research tells us the average person thinks about themselves, and how the world impacts them as an individual, almost every minute they are awake.  Their brain is constantly monitoring the environment alert to physical and emotional danger and opportunities. In less than a second the brain can flood the body with chemicals driving a ‘fight or flight’ or a ‘this sounds great’ response.  

As funny as it sounds, in business I continue to find people who think a person’s response to a sales pitch or a request for support will be different just because it is not a social situation. This is dangerous thinking and can lead to wasteful expenditure of money and emotional capital.


What we see is what we want to see - not what others see

My business partners and I were examining a great product developed by people with outstanding credentials and who seemed to know their target market. Despite good promotion and a strong message which brought in some early wins, it remained languishing as an ‘also ran’ product. At the same time a less developed product with fewer capabilities had grown to dominate the market.

We quizzed the developers who were consistent in their responses.

• They had developed the most advanced product in the market – no one else could come near it technically
• They always made a big effort to deliver a great presentation
• They seemed to be in the right place at the right time early on – now they seemed to be always catching up in the sales process

The consistent message we noticed was our client was focusing on how good they were.

Place yourself in their mind

When you need to influence an outcome or want someone to purchase your product or service the first thing you need to do is understand their situation. The research we mentioned earlier tells us the person you are trying to influence cares very little for you or your company, only for them.  Your telephone call, email or letter is an interruption. You need a way to help the person you want to influence see your product or service making their life better. If you can do this they will start to consider what their life might be like with you or your product or service in it.

This is easier said than done as you also spend most of your time considering yourself. After all you are a human being as well. You think of yourself as someone special, with intelligence and you know what is good for your customer.

I have watched with interest advertisements for the iPad and new Intel Surface computer. Both show people in real situations with their lives enriched because of the device. While they talk about the quality of the display, the discussion is about the way your life will be if you use the device. Not the fact one has so many mega pixels. Each time the advertisment shows my whole family wants one - each one for their own reason.

There is a painfully simple yet important lesson to be learned here. When it comes to influencing people or getting them to make a buying decision it is their expectation of what you are asking them to do or buy which will make their mind up. Not what you think is right or wrong.

You can tell the story enthusiastically and with passion, using the best multi-media presentation with endorsements by the best personalities. If you do not know what the person thinks about you are, at best, putting on a show in hope someone listens.
People decide to buy on the basis of expectation – what they perceive the decision will do for them and in their life. If your product or service fits into that perception you have a sale. If not then you don’t. It is as simple as that.

The company was investing enormous amounts of time and effort into selling the inventors idea. He had come up with the idea and made a number of initial sales. Now the company was talking with people who were unfamiliar with the inventor and the concepts he presented.

By changing the perception of the company owners and the way the product and services were presented made an immediate and enormous difference.

People like you and do business with you because they can picture you and your product or service working in their life. The better you are at helping people place you in their life the more successful you will be.

Questions and this weeks activities

There is nothing mysterious about what we did. It required a few simple changes. Try these and you will see your level of influence change quickly and dramatically;

• Engage your customer in a discussion about their business and their life using a reflective questioning style. You will be surprised what you will find simply by  being genuinely interested and scratching under the surface.

• Once you have established some rapport ask questions like “Have you considered …?” and “What happens when…?”

• Paint a picture using words like “Can you imagine leaving the office early confident …?” or “Can you hear your team celebrating knowing …?”

Leave your own ideas at the office – even better, in the shredder. They are great ideas if you are buying – but you are selling and you need to become a part of the buyers concept they are thinking about all the time.

Exceptional Sales Performance

P.S. More inspiration on our BLOG here.

Reprint permission
Permission is granted to reprint this article with the condition it is republished unedited and in full with full attribution to the author and the authors bio. Please provide a link to the reprint to the following email; greg.ferrett@exceptionalsales.com.au

Selling to the Seven Emotional Buying Styles Discover how to link your product to buyers emotion. In this very practical book you will learn everyday tools to take advantage of proven scientific evidence linking emotion to every decision. You will meet; the Hustler the Artist the Normal the Engineer the Politician the Mover, and the Double Checker This is one book you will refer to time and again to help you plan sales calls and to close sales.

Buy your Kindle or Hard Copy version here

 

Is High Energy Enough in Business and Sales?

Exceptional Sales Performance Monday Motivational Minute

Is High Energy Enough in Business and Sales?

October 29th 2012

By Gregory Ferrett

 

Welcome to Monday

 

I was breaking up some concrete over the weekend. I was enthusiastic and very positive about the job for ten minutes or so and stopped for a moment. I looked at the whole job and realised how much work it really was.

 

Car runs into tree in the middle of the dessert

A discussion I had with a concrete worker came to mind. He had said “To make the job easier just focus on the point you want to hit and allow the weight of the hammer do the work.” In that moment I re-evaluated the job. I saw what needed to be done, set some goals and started to systematically follow a pattern. This time, instead of attacking with enthusiasm I allowed the weight of the hammer to do the job and focussed on hitting the right point. The job was completed with a lot less energy, less time and my back thanked me for it.

There was a picture in the ‘The Age’ newspaper a few years ago of a crash in the middle of the Nullarbor dessert. The police were quoted as saying “We don’t understand how this happened. The driver has smashed head on into the only tree for over 40 kilometres.”  They were observing the same rule I used in breaking up the concrete, the rule of focus.

What you focus on is what you get

the rule of focus

 

As a business and sales coach I regularly get called to crash scenes. A sales person is faltering or a business failing where it has been smooth sailing for a long time. I am rarely surprised, however, as these crashes occur invariably for one reason. The rule of focus has been violated and the business owner or sales person has allowed their mind to wander from their customers goals to their own.

A lot of research has been done on what makes a person successful. What has been discovered is a successful person absolutely believes they have the ability to succeed. They will not entertain, think about, or talk about the possibilities that they'll fail. They do not even consider the possibility of failure.

This ‘feeling good and positive about you’ will help. To make a sale, however, it does not matter how good you feel or how positive you are. What matters is how good your customer feels and how positive they feel.

Why does your customer buy?

Your customer will only make a buying decision when their emotional needs are met and they can ‘see’ the product or service you offer working in their world and delivering value to them. When they are totally convinced you have the ability to deliver what they ‘see’ then they buy.

Focus on your client

Successful business people and salespeople are the ones who take the time to understand their customers, know their goals and ‘hit’ their client’s goals time and time again. They help their clients:

• ‘See’ how things could be
• Become enthusiastic about getting the results
• Believe they can deliver the result for them.

Moving from being good to being great

One of the things that make great salespeople stand out from the crowd is that they are not considered salespeople at all. They are regarded by their clients as consultants or a similar title. The moment a person is tagged by their customer with the label ‘salesperson’ it means they focused on something other than their client. When you are with your clients you are there to help them achieve their goals. Talk to them about:

• their bonus plan,
• their holiday,
• their promotion.

These are the things that engage them emotionally and drive sales. So, is high energy important is business and sales? Yes, but not as important as focus. High energy will give you a result. High energy with focus will give you an extraordinary result. 

Today’s question & action points

 Here are two things you can do to help you focus:

• Call up your top customers and ask them “What is it about my company that made you initially select us, or continue to deal with us?” The answers will tell you a lot about their perception of you and help you understand why others may buy from you.
• Before you pick up the telephone to your next client or prospect ask yourself “How will this person be better off as a result of using my product or service?”

When talking with your clients put your commission plan away. Hide the holiday brochure and forget about the promotion this sale may bring. There is time for that at the end of the day.

Have a great week.

 

Exceptional Sales Performance

P.S. More inspiration on our BLOG here.

Reprint permission
Permission is granted to reprint this article with the condition it is republished unedited and in full with full attribution to the author and the authors bio. Please provide a link to the reprint to the following email; greg.ferrett@exceptionalsales.com.au

Selling to the Seven Emotional Buying Styles Discover how to link your product to buyers emotion. In this very practical book you will learn everyday tools to take advantage of proven scientific evidence linking emotion to every decision. You will meet; the Hustler the Artist the Normal the Engineer the Politician the Mover, and the Double Checker This is one book you will refer to time and again to help you plan sales calls and to close sales.

Buy your Kindle or Hard Copy version here

Intrinsic & Extrinsic Motivation - why do they work against each other and which one works best?

Exceptional Sales Performance Monday Motivational Minute

Intrinsic & Extrinsic Motivation - why do they work against each other and which works better?

September 3rd 2012
By Gregory Ferrett

Welcome to Monday
Like everyone else I have followed the litany of disasters unfolding in various parts of the world. I was reading the newspaper the day after the Christchurch earthquake and as I read article after article a sense of deep gloom and despair come over me. I immediately put the paper down.
I wondered how motivation survived in situations like this? In particular, how is it a person can survive and thrive even in the face of insurmountable odds?

Motivation comes at two levels – Intrinsic and Extrinsic.

Intrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation is the satisfying of our basic psychological need. It is the satisfaction of our purpose in life, proving our competence, being able to act independently and create relationships. This is the motivation most easily used to immediate change your mood or energy level.

The better you understand yourself the easier it is to build on this rich source of internal motivation. For example, playing music satisfies a deep need of mine so over my life I have learnt to play a number of instruments. When I was in University, when I got stuck, I would pick up my guitar and play for a few minutes. This small break gave me the energy to go on studying.Intrinsic motivation is at its strongest in life threatening situations. In these situations everything is compromised and your motivation to achieve is at its highest. The sight of Ahsei “Ace” Sopoaga flinging slabs of concrete around, like foam blocks to rescue people, was impressive. This ‘energy’ was likely driven by intrinsic motivation. In everyday life, in business and sales, however, we rarely experience the power of intrinsic motivation at this level. Intrinsic motivation typically comes from the satisfaction of achieving personal goals that are fun and enjoyable. When I evaluate people for sales roles or business owners I ask questions about their life. I want to understand what their level of intrinsic motivation is likely to be. If they talk easily about their personal desires they are likely to have a high degree of motivation. I just need to help them harness that motivation to see their goals being achieved working the business plan or in my sales team.

Extrinsic motivation

Extrinsic motivation is the energy we gain from those around us and the world we live in. We tend to reflect the psychological environment we live in, work in and play in.To create this environment businesses invest large sums of money to motivate individuals to do things they would otherwise not wish to do. For example, when you apply for a job you want to know things like the salary, the hours, the times of work amongst other things. These are all extrinsic motivators to encourage you to engage in a certain way. I can only imagine the negative extrinsic motivation coming from a major earthquake or flood. Yet, it is in these situations we see the evidence intrinsic motivation is many times more powerful than the strongest extrinsic motivation.

• What happens when intrinsic and extrinsic motivation do not agree?
• Or you provide an extrinsic reward for an activity intrinsically motivating?

Providing rewards and sales commissions does not always produce the impact you would think. For example, I engage a sales person and provide a base salary and commission. They do well enough so I decide to double the sales commission in the hope they will double their sales. In fact, their sales go up only slightly. The likely reason is that intrinsic motivation has not changed.

You could increase the intrinsic motivation at the same time by congratulating them personally for every sale. This may help them satisfy their personal need for satisfaction. By doing this you see an immediate uplift in sales. Yet in a few weeks sales are back to their old level. The likely reason is they now have linked the new sales commission to intrinsic motivation decreasing the value of internal motivation.

How to keep yourself and others motivated?

The best motivational people I know take the time to understand the emotional drivers of individuals. To keep yourself motivated you need to understand yourself. Link your own emotional needs to the success required to keep you moving forward.In my business I keep lists of small goals and overall goals. This includes sales figures, people I want to talk with, articles I write and things I want to learn. I remind myself regularly about how I am achieved. In my vision statement (you have one don’t you?) I have a goal “I will remember key dates for my family, including relatives and friends, and communicate with these people on these dates – birthdays, weddings, anniversaries.” While I do not always achieve this goal, when I do I feel good about it. This ‘good feeling’ generates energy or intrinsic motivation. You will have dozens of activities in your life that can generate strong intrinsic motivation. By extracting these and creating positive chatter when you achieve them will provide a steady stream of motivation that will overcome even the most challenging extrinsic environment.

Today’s question & action

There are two things I want you to do this week;

• If you do not have a vision statement for your life take the time to create one. I am happy to share mine with you if that will help get you started.
• Make a list of at least five things you do that make you feel good. This could include jogging, reading, talking with good friend or journalling. Put this list up where you can see it and everytime you feel your motivation slipping, or the external environment is getting you
  down, choose one activity and make it happen.

You will be surprised at how quickly your mood will change.

Have a great week!

Exceptional Sales Performance

P.S. More inspiration on our BLOG here.

Reprint permission
Permission is granted to reprint this article with the condition it is republished unedited and in full with full attribution to the author and the authors bio. Please provide a link to the reprint to the following email; greg.ferrett@exceptionalsales.com.au

Selling to the Seven Emotional Buying Styles Discover how to link your product to buyers emotion. In this very practical book you will learn everyday tools to take advantage of proven scientific evidence linking emotion to every decision. You will meet; the Hustler the Artist the Normal the Engineer the Politician the Mover, and the Double Checker This is one book you will refer to time and again to help you plan sales calls and to close sales.

Buy your Kindle or Hard Copy version here